Before current era Wild sheep were more hairy than woolly. Although sheep were domesticated some 9,000 to 11,000 years ago, archaeological evidence from
statuary found at sites in
Iran suggests selection for woolly sheep may have begun around 6000 BC, with the earliest known woven wool garments having only been dated to two to three thousand years later. Woolly sheep were introduced into Europe from the Near East in the early part of the 4th millennium BC. The oldest known European wool textile, , was preserved in a
Danish bog. Prior to the invention of shears—probably in the
Iron Age — wool was plucked out by hand or with
bronze combs. In
Roman times, wool,
linen, and leather clothed the European population; cotton from India was a curiosity of which only naturalists had heard, and silks, imported along the
Silk Road from China, were extravagant
luxury-goods.
Pliny the Elder records in his
Natural History that the reputation for producing the finest wool was enjoyed by
Tarentum, where selective breeding had produced sheep with superior fleeces, but which required special care.
12th and 13th centuries Economies of scale were instituted in the
Cistercian houses, which had accumulated great tracts of land during the 12th and early 13th centuries, when land prices were low and labor still scarce. Raw wool was baled and shipped from
North Sea ports to the textile cities of
Flanders, notably
Ypres and
Ghent, where it was dyed and worked up as cloth. As trade connections expanded in medieval Europe, the
Champagne fairs revolved around the production of wool cloth in small centers such as
Provins. The network developed by the annual fairs meant that the woolens of Provins might find their way to
Naples, Sicily,
Cyprus,
Mallorca, Spain, and even
Constantinople. The wool trade developed into serious undertaking, a generator of capital, and in the 13th century, the wool trade became the economic engine of the
Low Countries and central Italy. A great deal of the value of woollen textiles was in the
dyeing and
finishing of the woven product. In each of the centers of the textile trade, the manufacturing process came to be subdivided into a collection of trades, overseen by an
entrepreneur in a system called by the English the "putting-out" system, or "cottage industry", and the
Verlagssystem by the Germans. In this system of producing wool cloth, once perpetuated in the production of
Harris tweeds, the entrepreneur provides the raw materials and an advance, the remainder being paid upon delivery of the product. Written contracts bound the artisans to specified terms.
Fernand Braudel traces the appearance of the system in the 13th-century economic boom, quoting a document of 1275. The system effectively bypassed the
guilds' restrictions. In the same year, 1275, the English crown had imposed an export tax on wool called the "Great Custom". At the same time, the sheepwalks of
Castile were controlled by the
Mesta union of sheep-owners. They shaped the landscape and the fortunes of the
meseta that lies in the heart of the Iberian peninsula.
16th century to modern era In the 16th century, a unified Spain allowed export of
merino lambs only with royal permission. Towards the end of this century, Italian wool exports to the Levant had declined, and were eventually replaced by silk production. After the
Restoration of 1660, fine English woolens began to compete with silks in the international market, partly aided by the
Navigation Acts; in 1699, the English Crown forbade its American colonies to trade wool with anyone but England herself. Over the centuries, various British laws controlled the wool trade or required the use of wool even in burials. The smuggling of wool out of the country, known as
owling, was at one time punishable by the cutting off of a hand. Later, the
Industrial Revolution introduced mass-production technology into wool- and wool-cloth-manufacturing. Australia's colonial economy came to depend on sheep-raising, and the Australian wool trade eventually overtook that of the Germans by 1845, furnishing wool for
Bradford, which developed as the heart of industrialized woolens production. Superwash wool (or washable wool) technology first appeared in the early 1970s, producing wool that has been specially treated so it is machine washable and may be tumble-dried. This wool is produced using an acid bath that removes the "scales" from the fiber, or by coating the fiber with a polymer that prevents the scales from attaching to each other and causing shrinkage. This process results in a fiber that holds longevity and durability better than synthetic materials, while retaining garment shape. In December 2004, a bale of the then world's finest wool, averaging 11.8 microns, sold for AU$3,000 per kilogram at auction in
Melbourne. This fleece wool tested with an average yield of 74.5%, 68 mm (2.7 in) long, and had 40 newtons per
kilotex strength. The result was A$279,000 for the bale. In December 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the
International Year of Natural Fibres, so as to raise the profile of wool and of other
natural fibers. In 2007, a new wool suit was developed and sold in Japan which can be washed in the shower, and which dries off ready to wear within hours with no ironing required. The suit, developed using Australian merino wool, enables woven products made from wool, such as suits, trousers, and skirts, to be cleaned using a domestic shower. The finest bale of wool ever
auctioned was sold for a seasonal record of AU$2690 per kilo during June 2008. This bale was produced by the Hillcreston Pinehill Partnership and measured 11.6 microns, 72.1% yield, and had a 43 newtons per kilotex strength measurement. The bale realized $247,480 and was exported to India. -era poster sponsored by the
United States Department of Agriculture encouraging children to raise sheep to provide needed war supplies ==Production==